Buying a photo printer

I like to take pictures and I like most to share them with friends and have them printed.
With digital pictures you can really print the best in quality as you can first visualize the pictures you took and then decide which one to print and frame.

Most of photo printers today produce a really good output that you can hardly distinguish from a conventional film developing lab, but they rather difference from one model to another regarding speed and resolution for high quality and professional purposes.

If you take occasional pictures a low-end printer will be sufficient, while if you have a passion for pictures or are a professional you better go for a high-quality one.

There are three main photo printers categories on the market:

1. Ink jet photo printers (all-purpose printers)
2. Dedicated photo printers (limited to print on glossy paper)
3. Professional photo printers (large format printers )

What are the main features to consider?

• Quality

• Resolution

• Output

• Size

• Type of paper

• Cost per print

• Additional ink colours

Ink-jet photo printers cost between $50 and $400 dollars depending on speed, features and combination of colours; dedicated photo printers cost between $150 and $400 and use termal-dye technology that suites very well for photos as it can print primary colours (cyan, yellow and magenta) in 256 different shades.
Professional photo printers price starts from $500 and satisfies professional needs of tabloid-size, super-tabloid and poster output.

Price to spend depends first of all on your needs. For occasional snapshot you may also consider an alternative among "non photo printers" such as standard ink jets, color laser or photo printing services.
Standard ink jet printers and laser colour produce a good quality result even if at a low pace but may be enough if you have few pictures to print and if you do not need high quality and resolution, while you may refer to online printing services when you have a large number of high quality pics to print.